Grumet-Morris Making His Mark

His Rampage goals against average was 7.04, making 25 saves in the game against the Iowa Chops.

When Dov Grumet-Morris was announced in a news release as the new Rampage goaltender, the writer gently extolled only the save total in that contest and overlooked that 7.04.

What G-M did this weekend in British Columbia against the Western Conference’s top team gives the Rampage quite the boost that shows once and for all that game a long time ago was an aberration.

This weekend will also blot out that inflated GAA for his Rampage career, as he stopped 51 of 52 Abbotsford shots.

Grumet-Morris, who was on a Finnish team until the end of the week, now has a Rampage GAA of 2.66 and save percentage of .900 — big improvement when he made his San Antonio debut fresh out of Harvard six years ago.

That one-game performance earned G-M a one-way ticket to Laredo of the Central Hockey League, where he remembered how to play between the pipes, going 18-5-2 with a 2.03 GAA and .926 save percentage and led the Bucks to the CHL’s Miron Cup.

The next season, the former fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers joined current Rampage coach Chuck Weber in Cincinnati before skating with Portland, Hamilton, Manitoba and Milwaukee in the AHL, and a return engagement with the Cyclones before heading to Austria for two years.

Last year, Grumet-Morris got back in the swing of things in North America, splitting the season with Greenville (ECHL) and Connecticut (AHL), going a combined 28-13-2 with a 2.21 GAA and save percentage of .920.

This may have appeared like a mercy signing by a former coach of a decent goaltender to fill a void created by Scott Clemmensen’s injury with the Panthers which snatched Jacob Markstrom from the San Antonio crease.

Grumet-Morris has shown a propensity over the years of being a great signing for teams set in goal with injuries. Even now, with his dominate performaces against Abbotsford fresher than the ink on his PTO contract, there is still not guarentee he will be with the Rampage once Markstrom returns. Brian Foster has had his moments as the Sweet Swede’s backup.

All that will be cleared up in the future. Right now, Grumet-Morris has helped keep the Rampage season from getting out of hand.